Ela Austin named as associate dean for public health programs
A young but burgeoning public health program, a focus on Appalachian communities, being back in Virginia, One Health, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) – Ela Austin is here for all of that.
Austin is the first associate dean for public health programs in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, coming to Virginia Tech after serving as associate dean, professor, and senior scientist in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“I am excited about the opportunity to be a part of growing a public health program that is very intentionally linked to a specific location,” Austin said. “The focus on rural health, Appalachian health, that was a big draw to me. “
Although Austin said it was a difficult choice to leave Birmingham after 18 years, she is returning “home” in a sense, to Virginia. While she was born in Paraguay and spent her early life in England, Jordan, and Japan with her father in government service, she finished high school in Northern Virginia, got her undergraduate degree at James Madison University, and obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Virginia.
“Very quickly, I got interested in sociology of health and medical sociology, focusing on how institutions and structures within society impact individuals’ health,” Austin said. “That’s where my focus on vulnerable populations and also stigmatized and marginalized populations developed. A lot of my research background is in LGBTQ health and in homelessness, people experiencing some sort of marginalization and how they how that impacts their health, how they interact with health care systems.”
The strong emphasis of Virginia Tech’s public health program on serving the Appalachia community fits well within Austin’s background and interests.
“I absolutely can see how I could contribute to research in those areas,” Austin said. “Performing my own research isn't going to be my main focus right now, while in this leadership role, but knowing that there are opportunities there, that was also exciting.”
Austin has not previously worked within the context of a veterinary college, but that association added to her interest in the associate dean position.
“One of the really unique things I was very excited about with this program is the emphasis on One Health, thinking about how animal, human and environmental health all fit together,” Austin said. “The fact that they were already leaning into that, it told me that there are smart people here who are recognizing these opportunities already. I was excited about that, because I knew that we could build on that.
“There is already such a good infrastructure here and outstanding connections with the community that we can just continue to build on and expand our reach even deeper into the community.”
Interest in developing a public health degree program at Virginia Tech extends back decades. After a three-year exploratory committee chaired by a former veterinary college professor, Francois Elvinger, now at Cornell, Virginia Tech’s public health program began in 2010 with a Master of Public Health offered through a newly formed Department of Population Health Sciences in the veterinary college. A bachelor’s degree in public health began being offered in 2018 – the veterinary college’s first undergraduate program – and today has 350 students enrolled as majors and 125 as minors.
Austin said much of her focus will be expanding educational opportunities for students and making sure those students are getting connected to communities, that “they truly have a heart to go back and serve those communities.”
For Austin, that all circles back to the university motto, Ut Prosim, which was a significant draw for her coming to Virginia Tech.
“The more I read about Virginia Tech and particularly, Ut Prosim, I just dove in,” Austin said. “I think I read every single web page at Virginia Tech. I read the entire Corps of Cadets manual just to see what it was about. I was just so interested.”
